Friends, family mourn Oakland grandmother shot on her way home from store

Oakland police officers and detectives investigate a crime scene where a woman was killed by an errant bullet as she was walking to a store on the 9100 block of International Boulevard in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (Ray Chavez/Staff)

OAKLAND -- Laurie Rico was surprised, and a bit concerned, when her friend Ramona Rochelle Foreman didn't stop by her house on Wednesday evening.

Foreman usually drops in on her friend before she heads to a nearby store to buy food for her elderly and diabetic mother and often a bag of Skittles for herself.

"We are all real tight. If we didn't hear from each other for a couple of days we were calling each other," Rico said Thursday, standing in front of two prayer candles and a plastic flower left at the site where Foreman, 48, was shot and killed shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday while walking home from the nearby 99 Cents Only store.

Police said a bullet from a gunbattle on the other side of International Boulevard at 91st Avenue hit Foreman. She was pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests have been made, and police don't know what sparked the gunfire. The death was the city's 124th homicide of the year.

Foreman lived with her elderly mother and a sister about four blocks from where she was gunned down. She was walking home from the discount store with her sister when she was hit.

No other injuries were reported.

"She was a sweet person," said Rico, 42. "We all took care of each other. She always took care of her mother and her grandchildren."

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Al Roberts said he and Foreman have a 30-year-old daughter and a 32-year-old son and three grandchildren together. They were not in a relationship at the time of her death, but Roberts, 51, stood on the street, behind the yellow crime scene tape on Wednesday night, waiting for the Alameda County coroner to come pick up the body.

"I can't leave her out her by herself," he said, grief stricken.

Relatives at the home where Foreman lived declined to comment Thursday, but they said they are planning a weekend vigil for the slain woman.

Several shootings have been reported in the area in the past weeks.

The spot where Foreman was shot is about 100 feet from where a well-known merchant was gunned down inside his store Oct. 31.

Wilbur Bartley, 50, was found slain about 7:22 p.m. inside Marcus Cellular, 9230 International Blvd., a Metro PCS outlet and DirecTV dealership. Bartley, who lived a few blocks away, was closing for the evening when he was confronted by someone who robbed and shot him, police said.

No motive has been released and no arrests have been made in his death.

About 2¿1/2 hours after Foreman was shot and killed Wednesday night, a man was shot about seven blocks away at 84th and International Boulevard, police said. He was taken to a hospital and is in stable condition.

No motive in that shooting was released Thursday and no arrests have been made.

A previous shooting on the same block occurred over the weekend, when four people were fired upon. They were injured about 7:30 a.m. Saturday, after a 37-year-old man shot at a car and an occupant of the vehicle fired back at 84th and International Boulevard. No one died in that incident.

Anyone with information on any of the shootings should call police at 510-238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572 or 510-777-3211. There is a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the suspect in Foreman's killing.